Old Grodno Castle
The Old Grodno Castle (also known as the Grodno Upper Castle and Bathory's Castle) was an important complex of defense, religious and public buildings from the 11th to the 18th century located in the city of Grodno, on the right bank of the Niemen River. History The castle was originally designed as the seat of a lineage of Black Ruthenian rulers, descended from a younger son of Yaroslav the Wise of Kiev. The castle was built at the end of the 11th century and was finished at the beginning of the 12th century on the Grodno Plateau. Initially, all the buildings of the castle area were wooden, with the exception of the Church of Saints Boris and Gleb Church ( 1128 - 1 283 onwards, the surviving ruins). Belonged to Kievan Rus' princes. Of the thirteenth century castle in the middle has been dominated by the Lithuanians. On the ruins of the church they built a brick church before 1183(the ruins have survived). the turn of the 13th century, as do remains of the first stone palace in the Old Hrodna Castle. 1283 - 1402 in the castle 14 times attacked the Crusaders . She was organized tours to the Crusaders subjugated Prussia . 1376 , the the city took over the castle and later perstatydino Duke Vytautas. 1391 , the it is about 50 days, was encamped , King of Poland Jagiellonian , struggling with Vytautas, the army and took it. Vytautas the help of the Teutonic Order Grand Master Konrad von Wallenrode (c1330-1393) , the castle in 1392 , the withdrew, the castle has to reside in the German knights. By 1398 , the high-fire old castle was reinforced with earth and trees, was the twelfth century - XIII century, was built in the brick towers. After a fire, built a brick Gothic Vytautas irregular triangular shape, the so-called Vytautas castle. Lithuanian Grand Duke Vytautas the fortress was located on the hills of Upper and Lower Castle and Castle, bisecting the cave. The 13th-century keep of the castle belonged to a type of Lithuanian defensive tower represented by the Tower of Kamyanyets. Vytautas the Great added five Brick Gothic towers in 1391-98, transforming the castle into one of his main residences. Casimir IV Jagiellon also favoured Grodo over Lithuania's official capital. It was there that the Polish Crown was offered to him, and it was there that he died in 1495. The next notable tenant of the castle was Stephen Báthory who envisaged Hrodna as the capital of his vast empire in Eastern Europe. He engaged Scotto of Parma to replace the Vytautas Castle with his own residence in the advanced Renaissance taste of Northern Italy. After Bathory's death in Hrodna in 1586, his pet project was abandoned. The citadel was devastated by the Russians during a Russo-Polish War in 1655. ]] It sit in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania Gentry Council , from 1678 on chose the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Republic of Two Nations family , worked in the Lithuanian Grand Duchy of the Treasury committee , Lithuanian Supreme Tribunal . The castle's revival was owing to Krzysztof Zygmunt Pac who raised sufficient funds to finance the refurbishing of the royal residence. The restored castle was selected by King Michael of Poland as the location for every third Sejm of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The castle suffered extensive damage during the Great Northern War, forcing the royal court to move into the New Hrodna Castle. After the partitions of Poland the castle was given over to the Russian army and housed a barracks. The authorities of interwar Poland restored the chamber of the ambassadors and the Sejm Hall. At present the castle is classed as a museum. Structure Upper Castle was built in the old place had a two-storey Princes House, 5 towers, stone fence, liftable bridge. Castle Upper House of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Stefan Batory , and other Italian architects of the order of the sixteenth century and reconstructed in the late Renaissance representational royal palace - the so-called Bathory castle and its king is dead. Seventeenth century through the ditch instead of the lift išmūrytas arched bridge. Castle in 1655 , the burned by the Russian army , it is 1678 , the rebuilt, but in 1708 the Great Northern War at the time it burned again in the Swedish army . the nineteenth century, introduced the third floor. Lower Castle one thousand seven hundred and thirty-four - 1,751 in Italian architects rebuilt in the Rococo two blocks of three storey house, the castle is called the New Castle or the Royal Castle. Upper and the Royal Castle is Grodno Museum of History and Archaeology was founded in 1920 in Polish archaeologists have uncovered the interwar period, the twelfth century - the fourteenth century the old castle buildings residues preserved ruins, fragments of restoration. After the war, the castle area dig in Leningrad, Moscow and Belarusian archaeologists. The church of Saints Boris and Gleb The oldest existant structure in Grodno is the church of Saints Boris and Gleb, also called the Kolozha Church. It is the only surviving monument of ancient Black Ruthenian architecture, distinguished from other Orthodox churches by prolific use of polychrome faceted stones of blue, green or red tint which could be arranged to form crosses or other figures on the wall. Both the church and the castle indicate the existence of The church is a small rectangular building, of 13 m wide and 25 m long, with three semicircular apses. The cross-domed roof is supported by six circular pillars. The outside is reinforced by projecting pilasters, which have rounded corners, as does the building itself. The ante-nave contains the choir loft, accessed by a narrow gradatory in the western wall. Two other stairs were discovered in the walls of the side apses; their purpose is not clear. The floor is lined with ceramic tiles forming decorative patterns. The interior was lined with innumerable built-in pitchers, which usually serve in Eastern Orthodox churches as resonators but in this case were scored to produce decorative effects. For this reason, the central nave has never been painted. The facades are decorated with rustic, but polished multicolored outdoor boulders and glazed ceramic (majolica) tiles colored in yellow, green and red tiles, which are considered as specific features of the Grodno architectural school. The church interior decoration has suffered many alterations and was not preserved. The church was built before 1183 stands on a steep slope of the Niemen River to the west of the old castle. , and survived intact, depicted in the 1840s by Michał Kulesza. During the 800-year history of the Holy. Boris and Father Gleb Church was renewed several times, rebuilt and even turned ruins, and they changed owners. Church of the sixteenth century update beginning (XIV century. was destroyed Crusaders). 1568 Matiaso Ciundo (Mathias Zündt) engraving shows the church after the repair. 1720 Nemunas paplautas slope close to the southern wall of the church, 1853 took place slope landslide (southern and collapsed part of the west wall), 1889 still fell a little wall. Only in 1897 Nemunas slope was strengthened, and nugriuvusios church walls were built of wood. On April 1, 1853 a due to a land slide induced by the erosion of bank by the Niemen River, the southern wall of the building collapsed. During restoration works, which were carried out a few years after the accident, some fragments of 12th-century frescoes were discovered in the apses. . To restore the building fragments of wood, wood floors, tin roof. At the church works. Koložos area and the church together with the castles of the Grodno complex istoriniuarcheologiniu published reserve. Restoration of the apsidėje was found and preserved by the twelfth century Wall painting fragments. 1935 archaeological studies, found in the twelfth century church floor - ceramic yellow, green and brown glazed tiles conforming to the exterior decor color gamut. The Church of masonry walls and ceilings of the vaults (in apse survived) įmūryti specific elements galasnikai (balt. галаснікі, eng. Галасники). This form of ceramic pitcher elements to the building wall įmūrydavo open "throat" of the interior; galasnikai for facilities to improve the acoustics and to facilitate the construction of the wall. The territory of Belarus galasnikai found only Grodno School of Architecture (XII century) buildings, also known as the Pskov-Novgorod, Russia the architecture of the region (XIV century). Both monuments confirm the existence of the Grodno region independent of Architecture and Art School, where the widely used local building materials, ceramics and items of applied art. Boris and Gleb Church, located on a high steep bank of the Neman, not completely preserved: its arches and the head disappeared long ago, the southern and western part of the walls collapsed into the river by a landslide in 1853 The building dates from shestistolpnym, trehapsidnym churches the cross-system. Its walls are relatively thin, the supporting columns have a circular cross section, making the interior of the church seems spacious with minor amounts of its plan (13x25 meters). Reducing cross bearing designs made possible by the use of arches and the upper parts of walls, ceramic pots golosnikov. Brick walls of the church is made of thin-brick plitnyakovogo plinfy. For architectural details used in various styles brick. In the altar area under a thick layer of plaster were found in 1870 during renovations frescoes of the XII century. Fragments of these frescoes by the artist sketched V. Gryaznov. Of greatest interest are the facades of the church: they are divided by vertical rods, shovels stepped profile.Majolica and stones - a definite symmetry, but not strict, because of this facade have become even more picturesque: they seem inlaid with precious stones. 1935 archaeological studies, found in the twelfth century church floor - ceramic yellow, green and brown glazed tiles conforming to the exterior decorcolor gamut. The Church of masonry walls and ceilings of the vaults (in apse survived) įmūryti specific elements galasnikai (balt. галаснікі, eng. Галасники). Since the fifteenth century Koložos suburb next to the church were Orthodox monastery. Sixteenth century Avg. The monastery was abandoned, it no longer a single monk. Sixteenth century end. church and monastery went to the units, after 1839, - Re-Orthodox (moved the nineteenth century. Grodno in the closed Bernardine of the monastery buildings, ceased to function during World War I). From the sixteenth century ST. Boris and Father Gleb Church was famous for the magical "Koložos Lady" icon. It icons Odigitrijos inaccurate copy of the 1495 Elena brought to Vilnius, moves through the GDL Alexander. Icon painted on canvas, glued on the board. Icon evacuated in 1915 and since that time about it, there is no knowledge. The more than 800-year-old building is not hiding a secret and mystery. It is not known as Church of the XII century, it seemed, who built it, presents specific issues and building decoration, mysterious characters bricks (very visible apse exterior brick). Memorial stone of David of Grodno According to legend, David of Grodno, who was castellan of Grodno was interred near the church. Archeological excavations are planned in the near future to search for his tomb. A memorial stone for David of Grodno has been erected in front of the Saint Boris and Gleb church. References * Трусаў, А. А.; Собаль, В. Е.; Здановіч Н. І. Стары замак у Гродне ХІ-XVIII стст.: Гіст.-археал. нарыс. Мн., 1993. ISBN 5-343-01429-1 * Ф. Д. Гуревич. "Древности Белорусского Понеманья". Ленинград, Изд-во Академии наук СССР, 1962. * Old Grodno Castle on globus.tut.by * Kazys Napoleonas Kitkauskas, Algirdas Matulevičius, Adolfas Tautavičius. Gardino Senoji pilis. Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija, T. VI (Fau-Goris). In: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas, 2004, 424 p. * Grodno: miasto nad Niemnem, Kraków 2005, ISBN 83-89676-33-8 * GARDINO ŠV. BORISO IR GLEBO (KOLOŽOS) CERKVĖ * церковь св. Бориса и Глеба (Коложская) Category:Castles in Belarus Category:Royal residences in Lithuania Category:Hrodna Voblasts Category:Historic sites in Belarus